I am an evil giraffe. But I'm trying, Nick. I'm trying REAL HARD to be the wizard.

A Starbucks super fan ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the coffee chain every day for a whole year as part of a challenge.

Mother-of-two Beautiful Existence splashed out close to $700 (£423) a month dining at the chain every day of 2013.

PhD student Beautiful Existence, of Seattle, Washington, set herself the 365-day challenge at the turn of the year and has documented her daily intake online, which shows her gorging on a variety of treats.

…given that she herself apparently is getting tired of the menu. Just something to do, I gather. (more…)

Although it’s a little more complicated than that. Essentially, I largely don’t care about the precise makeup/flavor of my coffee: I want it light, sweet, and hot. I can get that anywhere, and usually cheaper than at Starbucks. If I do want an ornate cup of coffee, however, I get the impression that going to a Starbucks to get one when you’re not a regular there is contraindicated.

So there’s not really any real call for me to darken their doors. Unless my wife wants a latte. Then, of course, I get something simple, and wait in good grace until we’re done.

Oops. In its way, it’s very much a baby step, but it’s beginning to dawn on Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz that 2014 is getting closer and closer – and with it comes a regulatory regime that includes health care mandates that are going to put “too great” a pressure on small businesses. This might even be a principled position of Schultz: I assumed at first that he’s worried about how Starbucks franchises would get hammered by increased health care costs, but it turns out that Starbucks doesn’t actually have franchises*. Which means that Schultz could solve the whole problem personally by having Starbucks apply for a waiver.

No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

Of course, Allahpundit was joking: it’s just bigger than the average stomach, or bladder. Anyway, I got told by my wife that there are Starbucks customers who apparently freaking out over the size of these things; which makes perfect sense to me, actually. As I told her, the average Starbucks devotee probably doesn’t like to be reminded that he or she is a fanatical slave to a fast food restaurant*: having the coffee equivalent of a Big Gulp wrecks that narrative.